Say it to me in Latin
by fitzherbertfangirl
Summary: Eugene reflects after a day of crown-stealin' frying pannin' amost dyin'...and a kiss on the cheek from Rapunzel. Set after the campfire scene, that night. full summary inside!


**Hey, everybody! This isn't the chapter story I promised kittehkitty2, but I promise it's coming soon. (: this is just a fun, sweet little one-shot, set after the reprise of 'Mother Knows Best.' Haha, I'm just a little obsessed with during-the-movie stories, aren't I? :D This idea had just been sitting around in my head, and every time Eugene would say, 'Gentlemen, this is a very big day!' it would resurface! (Ps-I actually do know some Latin and I think it's lovely ^^) So...finally I decided to write it down and...voila! Ain't my best work, so don't be totally judgmental! But criticism is good, always. And it was SUPER FUN TO WRITEEEE OHMYGOSH :D especially the end! Well that is way too much blabbering, onto the summary...ps, I don't own Tangled or a bad goodbye. Nuff said.**

**Summary: At the hour where one very big day ends and another begins, Eugene reflects after a day of stealing the crown, climbing the tower, frying pan fencing with a horse, nearly drowning, being healed by hair(!), and a kiss on the cheek from Rapunzel. I don't own Tangled or a bad goodbye.**

**This is the piece of the article that inspired me, an interview with Nathan Greno and Byron Howard: **

BH:…**And there's one scene near the campfire where she's laughing at Flynn (Eugene) and she's got these huge, beautiful eyes, and you just lose yourself…**

NG:** You fall in love with her…**

BH:** You fall in love with her and he falls in love with her right there too. **

_Say it to me in Latin_

By fitzherbertfangirl

"…as he held her close, Isabella bit that bullet and just like that, kissed him right on the mouth!" Eugene stopped and widened his eyes for emphasis.

Rapunzel tilted her head, wiping a tear from deep green eyes. "Awww!" she exclaimed softly, clutching her heart. "That is the sweetest story everrrrrr…"

"It isn't over yet!" Eugene said quickly. "Let me deliver the last line…where was I? Oh yes. That, darling, is how Flynnigan Rider became the richest man in the world."

Rapunzel blushed intensely. "Oh, that was the best story ever…and your storytelling! It's absolutely _captivating, _darling!"

Realizing his mistake, Eugene stuttered, "Hehe…that…that's the thing I'd say to all my…fangirls-"

"You had _fangirls?_" Rapunzel interrupted, a wide grin spreading across her face.

Catching on to his half-lie, Eugene jumped in, "Oh yeah, sister. With superhuman good looks, one can't help but have a few teenage girls going crazy over your supreme 'hawtness!'"

Rapunzel giggled so hysterically she almost fell over.

When she finally settled down, Eugene took his chance to apologize. "Hey, Blondie, really, it wasn't on purpose, if it struck you as weird."

"Oh, Eugene, it's okay." Rapunzel smiled at him, the dwindling firelight twinkling in her eyes. "It happens to everybody. I don't mind you calling me darlin' anyway, I know what you meant." She paused and winked ever-so-slightly and flirtatiously. "Mother calls me it all the time." Rapunzel looked away and bit her lip. Mother's confrontation a few hours before had not soothed her nerves in the least. He was calling her darling, wasn't he? He was sharing with her his back story, which in the early afternoon he declared he wouldn't. Eugene wouldn't leave me, she reassured herself, he cares.

Eugene sighed and smiled at her. "Did I ever tell you how cute it is when you say darlin' instead of darling?"

Rapunzel giggled, "You know, I don't think you have." And she smiled back, flattered and blushing.

Such moments as these may well be expressed through the Yaghan word, considered one of the hardest to translate, _mamihlapinatapai_. It's defined as a look shared by two people, each wishing that the other will initiate something that both desire, but neither wishes to start.

The moment is interrupted suddenly, as the ringing of the bells of Corona reached their ears with a merry little chime. Twelve long solemn strokes followed. The bells seemed to cast a spell over them as they pealed gravely, one…two…three…, leaving Rapunzel and Eugene suspended in wonderstruck silence. The contrast of the two chimes was as different as day is from night. The little ring signaled the new hour happily, but the long, solemn tolling foreshadowed the new day. The bells seemed to know that this day, the one that had just begun, would be imprinted in the memories of Rapunzel and Eugene for the rest of their lives.

The twelfth and final bell soon tolled, signaling the sacred hour of midnight. The forest once again became alive with the quiet, rustling noises of the night animals, the spell being broken. "It must be midnight, Blondie. We should…we should probably get some sleep."

"Yeah, you're right…" Rapunzel looked up at the dark velvet sky, besprinkled with stars with the crescent moon glowing softly. Even without the solemn reminder of the bells, the aura of the moment was certain. The day was over, the morning was upon them. A particular feeling washed over the two young people, a new day had begun.

It went as quickly as it came, as Eugene pronounced, "Happy birthday, RayRay."

"Thanks!" she grinned. Mutually they stood up from the fallen log. Eugene began to turn away to find a place to sleep, but Rapunzel stopped him, whispering, "Eugene, wait,"

"Yes?" he whispered back, turning to her.

Rapunzel smiled, "Thanks for everything today...you've truly given me the world." With that, she stood on her tiptoes, brought his face closer with her little fingers and gave his a small, soft kiss on the cheek. It was brief and gentle. "Night night!" she said happily after pulling away turning to find a place to sleep.

While her back was turned, Eugene touched the spot where Rapunzel kissed him and grinned wistfully. "Good night, Blondie. See ya in the morning."

"It already is morning!" Rapunzel giggled from her spot a few feet from him.

Eugene laughed and rolled his eyes, "See ya in a couple hours."

"Mea deliciae amicus, pulchre somnus…" Rapunzel whispered, wrapping her hair around herself.

_(my darling friend, sleep well) _

"What?" Eugene asked, picking up her murmurings. Thieves can hear _anything_.

"Uh, it means sleep good in Latin." Rapunzel said quickly, casting him an innocent smile. Of course, she didn't actually _mean_ for Eugene to hear that!

"Oh?" he pressed, sitting down on the grass.

"I've taken Latin since I was really little. I just…" Rapunzel lowered her eyes, "you know, say things in it sometimes. Sometimes things are…" she looked up at him again, "prettier in Latin. Also, if I was mad, I'd just say something so mean in Latin, and Mother would never know."

"Ahh, so it doesn't mean sleep well?"

"Hehe…of course it does! I'm not mad at you."

All right, I believe you! You speak it very well. Buenas noches, Blondie."

O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O

_I should have paid attention to all those Latin lessons; I can only remember a word or two. _Eugene mused with regret as he lay a modest ten feet or so from Rapunzel._ Midnight…Friday's over. Heckuva day, eh, Fitzherbert?_ He thought as he clasped his hands behind his head and stared up and the twinkling night sky.

"_All the things we've seen and it's only eight in the morning! Gentleman, this is a very big day!"_

And it was, bigger than Eugene had ever imagined. It had begun like any other. Up at dawn with the Stabbingtons, some obscure place in the woods. That day had, however been set apart from the others. It was the day of the major heist, which went off without a hitch. My, Eugene was tired of those Stabbingtons. They had been useful at times, of course, but really they were at a bad standpoint with him. He would love them to just disappear into thin air, and leave, go far away, forgetting all the times he'd betrayed them. _They started it; _he would argue with himself, _making my childhood miserable and all that junk._

_It would be nice to have a female accomplice, _Eugene thought, casting an involuntary glance over to Rapunzel. He let the dream run wild. _Co-thieves! Partners in crime! Always on the run, never slowing down, never getting caught! Epic! She's so much nicer and sweeter than the brothers. It would be more of a Bonnie and Clyde romance…um, situation. She's too gentle to be double-crossed and left behind. Her hair might be complicated at times…but we could braid it or something. Maybe she'd even like to have it cut. Who knows, it may be more of a burden to her. She'd be a partner. Not sidekick, but partner. _Eugene grinned at the thought of it. Rapunzel stirred slightly and his amber eyes locked on her sleeping figure once more.

This little bundle of blonde innocence, practically still a girl, a bandit and a thief? Scorned and wanted, living the poor life and taking things not belonging to her? Reality rested on him again like a ton of bricks. It would never work, she'd never do it. Unless he could afford that island...but that would take years and years. He didn't want this for her, she deserved better.

She didn't deserve that tower, either, and he'd never earn that island, Eugene knew. Rapunzel needed a way to stay in the real world, and to express herself for others to see. Her gift needed to be protected; yes; but it would be easy for her to find artistic work and keep her hair up, no one had to know. Either way, Eugene thought sadly, let them be together. They simply didn't fit, but it didn't even matter to him anymore. _It's like I love this pain a little too much. _He was going to have to let her go someday very soon, and it was already going to be one of the hardest things Eugene had ever done. He wasn't going to leave her with a bad goodbye; he wouldn't leave her period if he had the choice. But he had to do it, they couldn't stay together forever.

_Goodbye, goodbye,_

_Easier said than done,_

_Goodbye._

_Since when did I care about anyone but myself?_ Eugene wondered, surprised by his last thoughts that had left him with a huge lump in his throat. When she sang, when she smiled…Rapunzel just left him breathless. In vain, he tried to swallow his tears, but they only came more forcefully._And__ since when am I overpowered by emotion?_ This day had been so much more than he imagined. Meeting Rapunzel was like nothing else Eugene had ever done. This whole journey and friendship between them was already so much deeper than he had originally intended. Blondie had slipped her way around his invisible walls to emotion. She was practically snuggled up right next to him, pressing for more. And he was giving in, telling her more about himself than anyone since he became a thief. _Was it love? Is this why I dread to leave her?_ Eugene had asked himself this multiple times on the crazy 16-hour whirlwind.

He dived under the freezing dark waters to seize her small shoulders. He pulled her back up to the surface, brushing the soaking wet hair out her eyes with a sort of gentleness. The kind of tenderness and affection it was hard to believe the kingdom's greatest thief could possess. They would die…together. It seemed written in stone. If they truly were going to die, he wasn't going to let her die with him and not know he was not Flynn Rider. Someone besides his parents may as well know, why not the girl he was spending his last moments with? The girl he huddled close to, Eugene could tell her. Warmth had crept into his heart for the first time. Ever after surviving, he did not regret his decision to tell her his most kept secret. _Eugene _rolled off her tongue like a gentle touch, a sweet caress; she liked it much, much better. As he prepared to die with her, the question provoked him. _Is this __romantic__? Maybe it's just good chemistry?_

He told her his story. His reason why he is so shut off to feeling and sentiment. She told him her own. In less than a full day, they knew so much about each other. He saw the understanding and compassion in her green eyes. Her large eyes were so caring and gentle, he felt himself falling right into them. When he smiled at her and saw her smiling back...all the world seemed beautiful. Snapping out of his trance and walking into the woods, Eugene's question popped up once again, quite unintentional. _Was it love? Is this what I'm falling into with her?_

Back in the tower, restrained by her long golden tresses, the question was not love. She was beautiful, though, even back then. Eugene cast his gaze across again. He could recall her circling him menacingly. _Protecting her gift,_ Eugene thought now. Rapunzel's pretty eyes and long lashes, her petite figure, and that sometimes graceful, sometimes adorably clumsy way she moved...it had captured his attention from the first moment. Her hair was lovely too, of course, but to him it wasn't her defining quality. She would be just as adorable without it, through his eyes. _Rapunzel would make one cute brunette._ Regardless of his bewitchment, Eugene, then Flynn, didn't want to drag her to the kingdom and face the possibility of being caught. He couldn't understand her fascination with 'that lantern thing they do for the princess.' Frankly, at the time he couldn't care less. Now he knew, she needed to see them to fulfill a dream and to find herself. So the question remains, _is it love? _

In the Snuggly Duckling, he watched her sing her dreams out with thugs. Love wasn't his concern then, either. But the glowing feeling in Eugene, or Flynn still, was that this was _definitely_ something out of the ordinary. He had no idea she had that fearlessness, power, and amazing lungs in her small frame. Also no idea her kiss on the cheek to the hook-handed thug would make him so jealous. Flynn Rider was impressed, but Eugene was even more. It had become evident to him them, there was more to RayRay than meets the eye. He knew that now, dealing with her past in that tower.

"The question," he whispered in his sleepy irritated tone, staring wide-eyed at the stars again, "wasn't if I love her or not then, but it sure as heck is now." Sighing, picked up a stray strand of her magic hair. He toyed with it gingerly for a few moments. Impulsively, Eugene stood up, walked a few steps and lied down again, shrinking their distance to about four feet apart.

Eugene turned on his side watched her again as she slept. Rapunzel was _totally_ darling, every bit of her. He hadn't said that to the little girls at the orphanage, of course. The fangirls thing was mostly true, but he never gave them that pleasure. _Darling_ was reserved for Blondie, now and always. His eyes rested accidently on her lips, slightly parted and breathing slowly.

The kiss…had been lovely. The gentle touch of her fingers, bringing his face close, the kiss of her lips resting momentarily on his skin, was perfect in every way. Rapunzel's lips were soft and sweet, reminiscent of happiness, comfort, and angels, Eugene thought with a smile. His twinge of jealously towards the thug no longer irked him. Did that gesture of affection mean it was love? Moreover, his private thoughts whilst she did it? In the moment that her lips kissed his cheek, for just a sporadic sliver of a second, Eugene had the desire to tip Rapunzel's face towards his and kiss her on the lips. _Oh boy. __That __could mean love. _

_And I almost did it. But if I do love her, I'll love her __enough__ to wait until she's ready. _Eugene thought, sighed, and gently swept a stray lock of hair from her sleeping face. He didn't know whether or not he loved her...yet. Something was definitely there, waiting for him to find, but he couldn't find it now. A whole day together lay ahead of them, he would know by its end. He made this silent promise to both of them. Gently, he picked up Rapunzel's hand, feeling himself jump a little at the fragile feel of her skin against his own. Her hand was small and delicate. It wouldn't seem likely that it would fit so perfectly in his, warm and weathered, tested by the hard world. _We fit so perfectly together, yet we don't fit at all. _

Her hands were soothing, and Eugene could have left them there forever, but he couldn't let her wake and see him like this. He began to free his hand from Rapunzel's, ready at last to sleep. As he slipped his hand away, Rapunzel's eyes opened a crack. He began to draw back quickly, but in her sleep-enveloped, dreamlike trance, Rapunzel held it firmly. _"Da mihi suavium…amor…"_ She murmured softly. Slightly stirring, she returned to her dreams, whatever they were.

Eugene sat up quizzically, reluctantly succeeding in unfastening their hands. "Suavium?" he murmured. "What on earth_…_? Huh_…_amo, amas, amat...ohhhh."

He stood up gently, casting one look back at Rapunzel, and returned to his spot ten feet from her.

Who knows what da mihi suavium means? Not Eugene, he only knew this:

Amor means love.

_**The End**_

**Epilougue**

**(It's fluffy, consider yourself warned.)**

Eugene had this funny little inkling he couldn't shake. As he and Rapunzel nibbled cupcakes in their private little hideout, he decided to finally put it to rest.

"Hey, Ray, what does 'da mihi suavium' mean in Latin?"

Rapunzel grinned, her big green eyes squinting out of happiness.

"Set down your cupcake a second."

"Blondie…" Eugene raised an eyebrow.

"Just do it, pleeease?"

"All right." Obediently, he set his cupcake down next to hers. Still smiling, Rapunzel took his hands, stood on her tiptoes and closed her eyes. Before Eugene could quite realize what happened, Rapunzel kissed him. She understood that he would probably just be surprised and not really return her gesture, but she was proven wrong. Blondie learned a lot about Eugene that day, and one thing was that he was very good at returning kisses immediately.

Eugene was utterly surprised! Da mihi suavium means KISS? _Hey, Fitzherbert, you're finally getting that kiss you wanted spastically last night!_ So without a second thought, Eugene closed his eyes and kissed her back gently.

All too soon, the little kiss ended. "Whoa..." Rapunzel heard Eugene breathe and she pulled away gently. Nervously, she opened her eyes. The happy brown eyes of the man who had given her the world greeted her warmly. Shyly, she squeezed his hands, smiling out of sheer happiness and joy. Eugene smiled back at her, in that tender way of his.

"Sorry if that struck you as weird," Rapunzel said uncertainly a moment later, quoting a certain somebody.

"Not at all." Eugene replied affectionately.

"You did ask for one."

"And I'm sure happy I did."

Rapunzel lit up happily. "You are?"

Eugene grinned at her. "Yes, my darling Blondie, yes I am." There was a swish, and then a giggle, as Eugene swept his sweet princess off her feet, carrying her towards the docks.

_The End! I'm serious this time!_

O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O

**Ahh! *fangirl squeal* I get over the sweetness of that last part! I can't beeeelieve I DID THIS! I can't believe I did this. Mother would be so furious...lol(: I know, it ain't my best work, or as good and sincere as 'my little princess', but I LOVED IT**

**Eugene had a million chances to kiss that girl! It's best for the story the way Disney did it, you know with first kiss at the end and everything. BUT...this is so fun! And it's possible, though it'd mess up the story, I know...**

**Awww that's just SO sweet...did you agree? I really can't hear you, but I'd love to have your thoughts expressed in a review. Please? If you've got questions/topics to hash out, let 'em all out, I'll PM you and we can talk about it! Or if you simply loved it or hated it, that's all you have to say! No flames please. You'll find a review reply in your inbox! **

**Air kisses! *mwah* because I love ya so much for taking the time to read this(:**

**~fitzherbertfangirl**


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